Free Moral Agents was an American experimental hip-hop/fusion-jazz/psych rock/dub ensemble, active between 2003 and 2014 and based in Long Beach, California. Launched as a solo project of US keyboardist and producer Isaiah "Ikey" Owens, FMA gradually expanded to a full-fledged instrumental ensemble with six members. The band ceased to exist in October 2014, when 39-year-old Owens, who was at the time playing in Jack White's backing band, died of a sudden heart attack amidst the Mexican leg of the world tour. In 2016, LA Weekly ranked Free Moral Agents as the fourth-greatest Long Beach band of all time, after War, Sublime, and Suburban Rhythm (co-founded by Ikey's namesake and FMA bandmate, bassist Dennis Owens). In 2003, when Owens debuted as "Free Moral Agents" with 12" on Pete Records, he was renowned as the co-founding tenure member of The Mars Volta, as well as the Orange County ska/punk/reggae scene veteran. As a lifelong hip-hop head, Ikey predominantly focused on hip-hop in his FMA productions. The inaugural EP featured Ikey's first collaborators and early members of Free Moral Agents, producer Jeff Harris and vocalist Jonathan "J" Ullrich.

In 2004, Owens signed a record deal with TMV's home label, Gold Standard Laboratories, and released 12" split with Subtitle, featuring FMA's new track co-produced with Harris. The project's debut studio album, CD, came out later the same year. While the release boasted a "debut solo album by keyboardist Ikey Owens of THE MARS VOLTA" hype-sticker, the liner notes listed Free Moral Agents as a quartet, featuring J (words and vocals), Mendee Ichikawa (words/backing vocals), and Jeff Harris as "systems operator;" he also shared recording and production credits with Owens. Two tracks included samples of The Mars Volta's early track, Cut That City, recorded live at Bottom Of The Hill in San Francisco. In June 2005, Free Moral Agents contributed to GSL's mailorder-exclusive "Special 12 Singles Series," which commemorated the label's 12th anniversary; a limited edition 7-inch featured covers of Tom Waits and Visionaries. By spring 2006, Free Moral Agents had already begun performing in a six-piece formation, with "Ikey" Owens and Ichikawa joined by four new members. The FMA soon expanded beyond local shows around the Orange County and Los Angeles area, performing at New York's Blender Theater in October 2007, among other venues. In 2009, Free Moral Agents played at the Eagle Rock Music Festival in Colorado and at Low End Theory in Los Angeles (a live recording was subsequently released by Burger Records on a limited edition tape for the 2013 Cassette Store Day).

The band's sophomore studio album, CD, was released in 2010 by Chicago-based hip-hop/IDM/experimental electronica label Chocolate Industries. While not broadly publicized, FMA's sudden departure from Gold Standard Labs was, undoubtedly, triggered by the increasing tensions and inner conflicts between Omar Rodriguez-Lopez/ duo and the rest of TMV members. In October 2010, Owens missed two shows in South America, at Estadio Bicentenario de la Florida in Chile and the SWU Festival in Brazil, due to scheduling conflicts with FMA. (Coincidentally, exactly one year prior, in October 2009, The Mars Volta had to cancel the closing show on the North American leg of that same tour in Raleigh, North Carolina, after Thomas Pridgen, the band's drummer for the last three years, quit abruptly.) Even though Ikey Owens never had an explicit confrontation with the band, he was fired from TMV shortly after. Omar and Cedric, infamous for their somewhat vindictive and "bridge-burning" attitude towards collaborators, also dropped Free Moral Agents from the GSL roster and even retroactively marked Owens as an ex-member on De Facto's long-defunct MySpace page. In April 2013, Free Moral Agents released the final 12" record, , on LA-based Neurotic Yell Records, followed by a Japan-only expanded CD reissue, , in April 2014. Owens died less than six months later.

Lineup
Isaiah "Ikey" Owens – keyboards, samples/beats, production
Jeff Harris (2003–2008) – producer, "systems operator"
J (2003–04), Mendee Ichikawa – vocals, lyrics, melodies
Dennis Owens – bass, falsetto vocals
Ryan Reiff – drums, beats
Reid Kinnett – keyboards, effects, noises
Jesse Carzello – guitar, noises